The oil separator box will be the first to vent some oil vapors on the freshly painted block, but I was joking. It is not a notoriously leaky motor.
I just refurbished one for a friend, and used RTV to seal off the oil separator seals, those do kinda make a dark spot.

I had a great trip to pull-n-save yesterday. Total price: $4 plus tax. The guy just charged me for miscellanies yard parts.

My main goal was to find some metric brake hoses after playing vehicle-roulette for two hours on Rockauto with no success. I needed ~19Ē hoses with an inverted flare on one end and a 10mm banjo on the other. I found what I needed on an Ď01 Infinity QX4. I made some little tabs that I drilled, tapped and bolted to the frame.

I needed some flare fittings for the steering box lines. I found them on a Ď75 Chevy C10 pickup. I used them to make a Volvo-pump-to-Chevy-box pressure hose.

I routed the lines around the steering shaft and under the front of the oil pan.

I also picked up four bump stops, a Toyota solid hub flange (to carry as a spare in case a locking hub explodes), and six hub studs and tapered cones/washers/nuts (online stores want $10 per single set).

Today I cut the mount for the Volvo power steering reservoir in half and built a bracket for it that mounts from the pass side spring tower.

I’ve been hard at work on this thing with my head down, just tackling one thing at a time without the endgame even on my mind. This morning, I stepped back and said to myself, “Holy crap. This thing is almost ready to test drive.” It was a total surprise.

Brakes are done, power steering is done, radiator hose templates are pieced together to take to the FLAPS to find something similar, the t-case seal kit should be here today so I can final-assemble that and double check the driveshafts before I weld them.

After this week, it’ll be down to a gas pedal, bumpstops, the steering wheel, wiring, gauges, bodywork and paint.

Drivetrain is DONE! I had my neighbor stop by last night to spin tires while I marked the high spots on the driveshafts, tapped them straight and tacked them, then I welded, cleaned, painted, and installed them this morning. I was even able to find the spline boots in my parts bin.

I got the D300 re-sealed and installed yesterday.

Here’s a process-shot I took of the driveshaft weld. I gave them heavy tacks at four spots while on the rig, then grooved the joint on the bench between the tacks. I start each weld just after the tack, then finish the welds just before the next one. This prevents the tacks from getting too soft and allowing the cooling weld to deform the tack, knocking the shaft out of plane.

If I don’t have a honey-do list this weekend, I should be able to take it for a test drive by Sunday!

Love it! Love it! Love it! No way I could do anything in this thread. So cool and excellent looking work.
I had a 1994 Wrangler YJ with the 4 angry squirrels in it. I ended up getting rid of the Jeep due to the need for a new rear end and a motor rebuild. I would have loved to have put a red block Volvo engine in that thing.

Looks like you chopped an original MB right fender! They are worth quite a bit of cash to the WW2 restorers in good shape. In contrast, I tossed a pair of CJ3A fenders in the trash last summer since I couldn’t give them away.

I ran a new brake line, hooked up the sway bar, and raised the front end another inch.

I thought I had the brakes bled, but there is still air in there, so there is some funky pulling going on under hard braking.

Don’t laugh at getting stuck... they may look gnarly, but these tires are 20 yr old bias-ply dinosaur carcasses that get stuck in their own shadows. I don’t have t-case shifters made yet, so I couldn’t just flip it into 4WD.

And I know that vibration is annoying... it must’ve been in the camera mount because I didn’t hear it while driving.

Looks like you chopped an original MB right fender! They are worth quite a bit of cash to the WW2 restorers in good shape. In contrast, I tossed a pair of CJ3A fenders in the trash last summer since I couldnít give them away.

Your build is awesome and truly staggering.
Please keep posting.

Patrick

Thanks!
Yeah, I didn't realize what it was back when I started chopping. It wasnít in great shape, so no great loss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vol242vo

Such a huge milestone, that had to be a very rewarding drive. Now to get her all dialed in.

I found the elusive air bubbles in the right rear line, took it out for a drive, and the brakes are FANTASTIC. On loose gravel, the rears lock up just a hair before the fronts. I think I'll try to find more aggressive front pads/less aggressive rear pads before I mess with valving. It stops on a dime with minimal effort on pavement without rear lockup.

I found a problem I'll need to address: the harmonic balancer is a mess and will need replaced. The crank pulley wobbles like crazy, and I think it is spinning inside the rubber and it's preventing me from timing the engine properly.

I threw its clothes back on for a glamour shot to see how it sits with the front lifted. Better. (Although Iíll be back in the same boat again if I put a winch up front.)

The next day, I found the cause of my moving timing mark on the crank pulley. The key that is cast into the timing belt pulley was sheared off, and it was allowing the pulley to spin freely on the crank.

Luckily itís made from steel (or cast iron); I was able to build it up with weld and file it to fit.

This explains the weird feeling I was getting through the power steering. It was working great, just slower than I felt it should have been. I was chalking it up to the large pump pulley, but the steering pump wasnít getting full power under load. Itíll be interesting to see how it feels now.

Also, I started on relocating the pull point on the clutch pedal to be closer to the pivot, and I decided to shorten the clutch cable. The stock length works, but it gets jammed in between the engine, cage and fender, making it sorta square. It wonít lend itself to longevity.

I can turn the section that fits into the bellhousing to adjust it way in (11Ē shorter will be a comfortable spot), cutting the casing, and shortening the cable.

So if I have cable failure and need a replacement out in the boonies, the stock size will fit, the shorter one will just work better.

I got this done this morning. The clutch is sooo much better. I can push the pedal with one finger now, and engagement is proportionate to the pedal travel. I took pics of the process, but I apparently didnít save them off of the photo app, so you just get finished result pics.

I couldnít drill the cable out of the original tip, so I made a new identical one out of a bolt. I drilled a hole all the way through it, stuck the cable through so it stuck out about 1/8Ē, then welded the tip to the end of the cable. I then took a center punch and peened the rest of the length of the tip to pinch the cable. It should be pretty fail-safe between the two processes.

I raised the cable attachment point as high as I could on the pivot arm and moved the cable mount.

Here you can see how the shortening benefited. Before, the cable was jammed in against the engine and the cage post on the left, and stuck out from under the fender. Itíll fit inside now and touches nothing but where it rests on the frame.

I also tested the steering, and itís notably better, but still slow. I might choose to change out that pump someday. Revving doesn't affect performance, so Iím thinking itís a relief valve issue.

Edit: Some quick searching shows that this pump is a basic GM type 2 pump. Cheap and plentiful.

It was set to put out 820-870 psi when coupled to a rack, and ~1100 psi when coupled to a gearbox. Iíll pull it apart when I get a chance to see what kind of shims are in it. It should be as simple as removing a few shims for higher pump pressure.

If youíre loosing PS assist while turning the wheel, you need to increase the flow of the pump. KRC has a full line of flow control fittings for type-2 Saginaw pumps.

I wouldnít say itís a feeling of low-flow. Steering response is the same at idle or 3k rpm. It really feels like a pressure issue. Assist is there, itís just weak. Even when at full lock left or right, the pump doesnít strain/sound any different, or put a strain on the engine.

It has 225k miles of unknown abuse... the pump could also just be shot.

The pump may be just warn out, or the bypass/pressure relief may be held open by some dirt.
Where did you get the pressure numbers for the volvo 240 pump? They seem a bit lower than what I had found. I think the greenbooks say the operating pressure is 1100-1300psi for a 240 pump.

I can say that on my shop mates trail rig: that the volvo flow control valve, when used inside of a VW TDI PS pump, didn't have enough assist for a Toyota PS box and 33" tires. We drilled out the orifice to increase the assist. Gotta have good PS steering for the diesel Samurai trail rig.

Itís an Ď87 740 pump. I just found the numbers for the pump on GM forums for the type 2 pumps. Not Volvo specific. Everything I read said that if it came behind a rack, it was valved for lower pressure.

On a separate note, I just looked it up in my old 1979- green book and found this in the steering section. Is that pump pressure? Or am I reading it wrong? Thatís really low.